The conventional socket connector for connecting to a chip, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) socket connector employed by a computer, has terminals retained in an insulation body through destructive interference between them. China Patent Nos. 02254847 and 200420055027 both disclose such a socket connector.
As shown in FIG. 1, China Patent No. 02254847 discloses a terminal 7 of a socket connector. The terminal 7 comprises a soldering portion 70, a retaining portion 71 extending from the soldering portion 70, a cantilever 72 and a contact portion 73 extending from the cantilever 72. Several protrusions 710 are provided on the retaining portion 71 so that the distance between two protrusions 710 disposed on two opposite sides is larger than the distance between the sidewalls of a receptacle groove (not shown) receiving the terminal 7. Therefore, each of the protrusions 710 is lodged in the inner walls of the receptacle groove in order to have destructive interference with each other so that the insulation body receives the terminals 7, after the terminals 7 and the insulation body are assembled.
However, such a conventional socket connector is designed for a chip; hence, the amount of the terminal receptacle grooves is very large. Therefore, stress concentration occurs in the insulation body due to the destructive interference between the terminals and the insulation body. Such stress concentration results in extreme deformation of the insulation body, and the soldering quality is affected after the socket connector is mounted onto the circuit board. Consequently, the performance and working life of the socket connector are reduced. In view of the above, the conventional socket connector needs to be improved.